Auto dealers are facing a variety of unique challenges in 2017. One of the biggest challenges they face is learning how to effectively train their sales teams to improve the customer experience, engage with customers on a personal level and then make the right sale—not just any sale.
Unfortunately getting sales teams to master the customer experience and keep consistent revenue coming in is never any easy feat and typically requires a lot of time, energy and resources.
The good news is there are a number of people in the auto dealer space that have mastered the sales and customer service process. If you want to help your sales teams increase their numbers, keep customers happy and build a positive reputation for your dealership, it’s probably time that you look outside your circle and see what other experts in the industry are doing well.
It might just be the thing you need if you want to take your sales to another level.
Without further ado, here are three experts in the automotive industry that are transforming the experience of their customers and growing their revenue at the same time. Watch and learn!
Tim Kintz is a car guy to the core.
The Founder and current President of Kintz Group, Tim combines an old school sales approach with modern-day methods to teach some of the best known dealers in the world how to close more deals, retain happier customers and grow their store revenue.
- 3 decades working in the automotive world
- One of the most sought after trainers in the industry
- Presented 1,000’s of workshops (NADA, RVDA, Digital Dealer National)
Tim believes that the key to the success of any auto dealer is a well-trained sales staff, but he also believes in using creativity and exceptional customer service to help close more deals. An advocate of the customer experience, Tim knows that dealerships have to stay on the cutting edge of customer service if they want to win over customers in such a competitive environment.
As part of his training curriculum, Tim Kintz tells sales people to go against their natural instinct and to “think small” instead of always “thinking big.”
“Sales isn’t about the deal, it’s about the people”, says Kintz. “It’s easy to leak into that bad habit of being transactional and being about the big deal. When you go out and talk to that next customer, find out about the customer and take care of the customer. If you take care of the customer the money will follow.”
More than anything, Kintz believes that at the end of the day you have to build trust with your customers if you want to grow your sales numbers.
“If you really want to hit the big time in sales, it’s about building relationships with our customers, says Kintz. It doesn’t matter what you sell, it’s all about building those relationships. It’s like that old phrase: customers don’t really care how much you know until they know how much you care. Always take responsibility for your customers.”
Wayne Ulery has worked as a national auto salesman since 2014, and in his words, he began using the internet to sell vehicles as soon as he got his first job.
“I sold 20 cars the first month, primarily using YouTube”, said Ulery.
“I would upload a walk around video of a vehicle to YouTube, send it to the customer, they would get to see it and then they’d book an appointment to come right in.”
Ulery admits that using video is not the only key to his success as a vehicle salesman—he also believes that salespeople need to be committed to always improving the customer experience if they want to sell more cars.
However, he knows that the visibility and engagement that comes as a result of his videos cannot be ignored. Now he even films videos specifically for customers that purchase a vehicle, just to congratulate them.
Recently, Ulery has used additional resources to take his sales to the next level.
Shawn Hays is an expert auto salesman at Hyundai of St. Augustine. In addition to being an extremely convincing sales person, Shawn provides exceptional advice to fellow sales reps and car buyers via his YouTube channel: Shawn Hays Your Car Guy.
In one of his recent videos, Shawn talked about how important it is for salespeople to be proactive and do a thorough vehicle walk-around with each customer they meet.
He also talked about what salespeople need to do to get customers to buy from them:
“If you can build value in the walk-around, then you’re going to be better than your competition,” said Hays. “You’re going to differentiate yourself and that customer is going to say, why do I want to buy from Bill? Shawn showed me the car. Shawn showed me how the features of this vehicle will benefit me in my life. I’m going to buy from Shawn.”
When it comes to customer service, Shawn believes that dealerships and sales people need to be 100% transparent with their customers. On average, most dealerships in Shawn’s area sell about 60-80 cars per month, but Hyundai of St. Augustine does 200-250.
Shawn believes that transparency is the secret to his dealership’s success. Click on the video below to hear it from Shawn himself.
“Transparency doesn’t mean you’re going to make less money. In fact, I think you’ll make more”, says Hays.
“You’re worried about that one transaction where you can make a pop on them. The problem is as they go home they find out you made a pop on them. They hate you, they tell all their friends. Now you don’t get their business or the 10 friends they told. Whereas a dealership that treated them like family is going to get their return business. They’re going to go home and tell their friends and rave about you on reviews. Now who made more money?”
The Big Takeaway
If you want to sell more vehicles at your dealership you have to focus all of your time and energy on improving the customer experience. People can go anywhere to purchase a vehicle, but if you make the effort to wow everyone with customer service, they will become customers for life.
